


Between the Sun and the Moon

by radioactivesaltghoul



Series: GFFA vs modern au tropes [8]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Mild Gore, No Pregnancy, Non-Linear Narrative, Pining, Safe to Read if You're Triggered by Pregnancy, see fic notes for spoiler tags, tags omitted because of spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 15:42:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22518451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactivesaltghoul/pseuds/radioactivesaltghoul
Summary: The Force demands that Rey and Ben pay a price for the power they gained in their preparation to take down Palpatine, but they don’t learn what they paid until it disturbs the peaceful life they’re trying to build together after the war is over.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: GFFA vs modern au tropes [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561147
Comments: 18
Kudos: 39
Collections: For one is both and both are one in love: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	Between the Sun and the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redbelles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redbelles/gifts).



> Additional tags in end notes because they're spoilers and I'm trying to be ~mysterious~

The first time Rey transforms, it catches them both by surprise. 

Ever since Rey and Ben teamed up to fight Palpatine and end the war, they’ve been living off-the-grid, away from the rest of the Resistance. They both need a break, and neither of them is in any rush to call attention to the fact that the man formerly known as Kylo Ren is half of the reason Palpatine was defeated. There’s an ominous feeling they’ve both had ever since they found a way to become strong enough to take down the undead soul of the Sith Lord, and they decided that it would be best to wait and see how that plays out before they reintegrate themselves with the rest of the New Republic society. 

There’s also the matter of figuring out where things stand between them, but all thoughts of discussing those unsaid things fly out of Ben’s head as he watches Rey’s body break and put itself back together.

Standing before him is a large animal with thick fur the color of Rey’s homeworld. With four legs, a thick, furry tail, and a snout showing teeth that are sharp enough to tear flesh without a second thought, she’s a sight to behold. It takes him a moment to place the kind of animal she’s become. A wolf, his brain supplies as Rey stands snarling in the kitchen of the small, two-bedroom cottage they share.

He’s been screaming her name ever since he heard the sound of her first bone cracking, but the animal barely seems to recognize him. He can feel her panic in the Force, but it’s gone from the human sense of surprise to an animal feeling of being trapped.

She’s twisting around, nearly tripping over her own paws as she tries to make sense of the room around her. Her clothing is still half-hanging on the body that’s no longer shaped for it, and she twists herself to pull the rest of it off with her teeth before bounding for the door leading out into the back garden. They’ve been cultivating it together as they learn how to use the Force to nurture instead of fight, but Rey is too far gone to care about the disturbed flower beds.

It’s possible that she used the Force to help her knock the door down, but Ben has a feeling that the wolf is powerful enough to do that on its own. A moment later, she’s sprinting off into the woods faster than Ben can keep up with. He calls her name again but she doesn’t respond, and when he seeks her out in the Force, all he gets is a feeling of primal joy as she runs through the woods surrounding their home.

Of all times for the speeder bike they own to be broken. Rey has been fixing it up, but neither of them has been in a rush to have it working again. They don’t need to venture into the nearest settlement for food and other supplies for at least another week, and neither of them has expressed a desire to spend time there outside of the necessary trading they do.

Ben’s terrified for her, but now that she’s out of the house and running through the woods, she feels...happy. It’s not a human happiness but an animal sense of elation. He pauses, suddenly unsure if he should chase after her or not. Rey’s happiness is a priority for him, especially after everything she’s been through. What if he ruins that by chasing after her?

But then again, what if this is permanent? What will happen to him if he’s Force bonded to an animal? He has no idea if he’s going to transform as well. The Force works in mysterious ways, and even if you’re the most powerful Force-sensitive in the galaxy, there’s nothing you can do to fight it. He’s spent so much of his life trying to bend it to his will, and it seems he’s finally learned his lesson. 

He spends hours trying to figure out what Rey was doing to the bike and then finishing her modifications. By the time he’s finished, it’s nearly sunrise. Nights are short this time of year on Wasat, but he’s not going to sleep until he can figure out what’s going on. 

As soon as the first rays of sunlight peek through the trees, he feels the moment she turns back to her normal self. Reversing the transformation back is just as painful as the transformation into a wolf, but he can sense her exhaustion as her thoughts become human again.

Without regard for his own exhaustion, he hops on the now-fixed speeder bike, following the connection between them until he finds her passed out on the forest floor, covered in dirt and blood. He’s so relieved to see her alive and human that he barely takes stock of her nakedness as he checks her for injury. None of the blood appears to be hers, which isn’t as much of a relief as it probably should be. 

“Rey,” he says, unsure if there’s anything he should heal. Her bones look fine, despite having been broken and healed twice in the past eight hours. “Wake up.” He wishes he’d thought to grab a cloak; he doubts she’ll be happy about her lack of clothing. Now that he’s aware of it, he forces his gaze to not drop anywhere below her collarbones. He’s thought about seeing her naked more times than is probably appropriate, but this is not how he wants it to happen. 

Despite the sheer exhaustion he knows she’s feeling, she stirs at the sound of his voice. “Ben?” she murmurs sleepily, blinking awake. “Where am I?” She realizes a moment later that she’s completely naked, and she shifts in an attempt to find a less revealing position to sit in. Rey is a little more practical about nudity than he is, but even she’s a little shy. “What the hell happened?”

“Here,” he says, pulling his sweater off and handing it to her. She takes it without comment, sliding it over her head. He wishes he had something other than a sweater covered in sweat and engine grease, but there had been no time to spare as soon as he realized she’d become human again. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

* * *

It takes three months for them to realize that Rey’s involuntary transformations are linked to the cycles of the moon. In that time, she tries to control it. She can’t figure out how to transform on her own, nor can she stop it when it starts happening. 

Ben is unaffected by whatever affliction is plaguing Rey, but he is by no means unaffected by the situation.

And in time, they come to realize that he has a price to pay for power, too.

* * *

Waking up naked on the forest floor covered in dirt and animal blood with Ben hovering over her is not how Rey imagined it would go the first time he saw her naked. Every muscle in her body is in agony over the stress of transformation.

Ben has spent most of the day hovering over her, trying to take care of her. Had it been anyone else, she would tell them to fuck off and let her recover in peace, but she can feel his panic as acutely as she can feel her own. 

“Do you remember what happened?” he asks, sitting gingerly on the edge of her bed while she shifts around, trying to find a comfortable way to lie with all of her aching muscles.

“There was a lot of pain, then it’s vague until I woke up naked in the woods.” He turns red at the word _naked_. She suspects she knows why, but now is probably not the time to discuss it.

He’s silent for a long time. She rolls over onto her side, facing him. “You came looking for me,” she says in a small voice.

He frowns, although she doesn’t think it’s directed at her. “Of course I did,” he murmurs.

Despite the aches and exhaustion, something warm and fuzzy snakes through her veins at the no-nonsense way he says it. “Thank you,” she whispers. 

He bites the inside of his cheek, carefully considering his words before deciding on levity. “You should know by now that I’ll always find you.”

She snorts. “Glad we’re finally at a point where we can joke about that one.”

* * *

“Rey.” It’s the first thing either of them has said through the Force bond that still connects them in almost a year. “I need your help.”

They’ve been ignoring each other. Rey has always assumed Kylo would be the first one to speak—after all, she’s had much more practice waiting than he has—but she’d always assumed that his first words to her would be a demand that she abandon the Resistance to be by his side.

Still, she’s not sure how to respond. He must realize that, because he continues on with his explanation. “Palpatine is alive,” he tells her. “I can’t defeat him on my own. We’re powerful enough together that we can take down anyone and anything. Deep down, you know this to be true.”

“What, are you pissed off that there’s someone in the galaxy more powerful than you?” she snarks. 

He tilts his head to the side. “You’re upset,” he says. “With me.”

He’s right. “I don’t hear from you for nearly a year, and then your first words from me are a request to make you even more powerful? No thanks.”

“You misunderstand me.” He sounds calmer than she would have expected him to be. “I don’t care that he’s more powerful than me. He demanded that I kill you.”

* * *

By the third night of Rey’s first transformation cycle, they’ve worked out a routine.

The first night caught them by surprise, the second night less so. The next evening, Ben and Rey eat dinner, glancing at the chrono every few minutes as they count down until sunset. With a few minutes to spare, Rey goes outside and disrobes. (She doesn’t have enough clothing to withstand it getting destroyed when she transforms.) She spends all night as a wolf and when dawn breaks, she makes her way back home and spends most of the day asleep. 

Ben stays up, even though he doesn’t have to. The first two nights involved her waking up alone on the forest floor. Both times, Ben came looking for her, bringing a cloak for her to wrap herself in the second time.

She knows he worries about her, even though she’s able to defend herself in a fight if need be. But there are no animals that prey on wolves in these woods. If anything, the danger from other animals comes from wolf-Rey deciding she wants a snack. 

Third time’s a charm, as they say. Rey has started to feel like she’s in command of this whole thing. The wolf mind still has the reins when she transforms, but this time she’s able to take control enough to stumble back home before sunrise. Ben is surprised when he opens the door to find her passed out on the porch, but he’s relieved that she’s not passed out in the woods alone.

He wakes her up, handing her a cloak as usual. She knows he’s more than capable of moving her to her to her bed, but she usually wakes up covered in dirt, and it’s not as if they have the sort of relationship where she can ask him to wipe mud off of her unconscious body before tucking her into bed.

It’s a routine. It’s her price. And to their surprise, Rey is able to spend the next twenty-five nights blissfully human until the cycle begins again.

* * *

“I’ve researched alternative Force philosophies,” Kylo says as he and Rey meet across time and space to discuss how to bring down Palpatine. “Did you know that there are paths outside of the Jedi and the Sith?”

“I’ve heard that there are witches on Dathomir,” Rey replies, “but until a year ago it was all just a myth to me.”

Kylo can’t imagine a life where the Force and the Skywalker legacy were just myths. Even though he didn’t know the truth about his grandfather until he was in his twenties, he’s always known that his family is the stuff of legends. He still resents how heavy of a crown that was for a child like him.

“Yes, that’s correct,” he replies, schooling his tone so as to not seem too impatient. Things are fragile between them right now. He needs to tread with caution. It took three tries before he finally managed to convince Rey to hear him out; he can’t afford to fuck this up. “But there are others out there.”

Rey frowns, trying to figure out where he’s going with this. “If you’re trying to convince me to try some dark side techniques—“

Kylo is surprised at how quick he is to reassure her otherwise. “Didn’t it ever occur to you that there was something between the light side and the dark side?” he asks. “It’s a spectrum, not a dichotomy.” That, too, is something that it took him far too long to realize. 

Rey’s frown softens as she considers this. “What are you proposing?” she finally asks. 

The word _proposing_ spikes an unexpectedly strong reaction in him, but there’s no time to examine it right now. “A ritual to make us stronger in both sides of the Force. Neither of us will be completely light or completely dark.”

He swears his heart skips a beat when her eyes light up with understanding. “A balance,” she says. He’d half expected her to reject the idea outright, and for the first time since he can remember, he has a good feeling about something.

* * *

Rey and Ben wait with bated breath, but he never goes through the agony of the transformation process.

He does, however, notice something about Rey. 

She’s hotter than she used to be. Literally. Ben realizes this when they’re sparring one day. Neither of them expects to actually fight anything anymore, but they both like to keep in shape just in case. As an added bonus, it gives him the excuse to touch her, and he’s not going to say no to that.

She has him pinned down. Her reflexes seem to be faster than they were before, and he swears he heard her growling a minute ago. He’s hyper aware of her body pinning his down, her hands holding his arms in place while she straddles his waist. This is certainly not a bad place to be, and it’s not the first time a sparring session has ended like this.

(One of these days, he’s actually going to have the courage to pull her down for a kiss, he swears.)

The heat radiating from her body is immediate cause for alarm. She senses the exact moment he starts to panic about her, because she drops her hold on his arms and scrambles to her feet. “What is it?” she asks, sounding worried. “Is this about the growling? Because it just slipped out, I don’t know—“

“You have a fever,” he explains, pulling himself to his feet. “Come on. You need to rest.”

Rey frowns. “I feel fine.”

“You’re so hot right now.” The moment the words are out of his mouth, he regrets them. “Your body, I mean.” That’s no better. “Your temperature,” he clarifies. “You’re burning up.”

“It’s probably nothing,” she says, but she doesn’t sound as certain now. “We’ve been going at it for a while. That’s how physical exertion works.”

He shakes his head. “We’ve sparred plenty, and I’ve never felt you like this.”

She still looks skeptical, but something in his expression makes her relent. “I feel fine,” she repeats, “but you’re right. Maybe we should take a break.”

But then he notices it again when she brushes past him as they cook dinner later on. And again later, as they sit on the sofa together, watching a holofilm. Ben hasn’t exactly been subtle in his attempts to find ways to make small, physical contact with Rey, but now it has a new angle as he tries to solve the mystery of what’s happening to her—and if it will happen to him as well.

* * *

When they start to suspect that Rey’s transformation may be linked to moon cycles after the third month, Ben brings up the question of leaving Wasat. “There are plenty of planets with no moons,” he explains. “There’s an old Alderaanian legend about creatures that transform during the full moon. Alderaan had no moon, so I guess it seemed like the perfect material for urban legends.” He pauses, weighing his next words. “They called the creatures _werewolves_.”

If Rey’s being honest, she’s hesitant to leave the home they’ve created solely to escape the full moon. She’s finally starting to feel like they’re at peace (or something resembling it, anyway), and she doesn’t want to give that up.

Specifically, she doesn’t want _Ben_ to give that up, after everything he’s endured.

And the wolf thing isn’t actually so bad, now that she’s getting used to it. There’s always been a feral part of Rey, developed during the years she spent fending for herself on Jakku. She doesn’t want to admit it, but it’s freeing to be able to give into her animal instincts. It seems like Ben is more worried about it than she is at this point, and that’s because he’s worried for her safety. It feels...strange, to have someone care about her like this.

She likes it almost as much as she likes running through the woods in lupine form.

He senses her hesitation and suggests they give it a trial run when the full moon hits next month. If they spend that time on a ship, they’ll have an answer. “What if I transform anyway?” she asks. “Then you’ll be stuck on a ship with a wild animal.”

“You said you’ve been gaining more control, right?” he asks.

“I’m not sure that I have enough control to handle this.”

His response to that is a simple, “I trust you.”

Three weeks later, they’re sitting on their ship just outside of the Wasat system. Tonight is the first day of Wasat’s full moon—they’ve programmed it into the ship’s chrono—when she realizes that Ben is ill.

Rey has noticed over the last few weeks that he’s been spending less time outdoors during the day. When he does venture outside, any exposed skin develops a sunburn within an hour. He’s also been complaining about how bright Wasat has become, even though Rey hasn’t noticed any change.

She can sense his discomfort sliding into pain. It’s thirst, but it’s a different kind of thirst than anything Rey has ever known in the desert. “It’s fine,” he says when she asks him how he’s feeling. “I’m probably just dehydrated.” He looks even paler than normal, but maybe that’s just the ship’s lighting.

“I know dehydration,” she replies, “and this isn’t it.”

“Maybe it’s a fever.”

She steps closer, holding her hand to his forehead to check his temperature. He insists that Rey’s body temperature has permanently risen, even though she feels fine. His, on the other hand, is considerably lower than a healthy human’s should be. “You’re freezing,” she says, stepping closer to him. They’re so close that she can feel the heat from her body leeching into his. “This doesn’t feel like a fever.”

He pulls her hand away from his forehead, but he doesn’t let it go. “That’s just because you’re always so hot these days.”

“You really don’t feel it?” She’s worried about him. “Maybe you should go lie down.”

“Maybe you should lie down with me,” he murmurs. It’s the closest either of them has come to acknowledging the line they’ve been dancing around for months now. Rey has been afraid to cross it—what if her condition is contagious?—but she doesn’t want to leave him alone right now.

“I might transform in a few hours,” she reminds him, afraid of injuring him when he’s already weakened.

“I trust you.”

“Do you promise to restrain me if I change?” she whispers.

“I don’t think you will,” he says, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her forehead, “and even if you do, I don’t think you’ll hurt me.” When she doesn’t immediately reply, he asks, “Do _you_ trust _me_?”

“With my life.” She’s so tired of fighting this, and when he takes her other hand, she follows him.

* * *

“Are you sure about this?” Rey asks as she and Kylo are making their final preparations for the ritual they’ve found buried in old documents he pulled out of an archive somewhere.

Kylo pauses, then looks up from the scroll he’s examining. “Are you?”

 _Do we even have a choice?_ Rey thinks. Aloud, she says, “Let’s do this.”

The texts are unnervingly vague about the payment demanded in exchange for power, but Rey will be damned before she lets their opportunity to take down the phantom of a Sith Lord slip through their fingers.

Besides, she’s coming to realize that she trusts Kylo. She isn’t entirely certain that it’s a good idea to trust the man in charge of the organization that Rey’s putting her life on the line to fight, but how much longer can she go on pretending that she doesn’t have a bone-deep connection to him?

Kylo holds his hands out to her. “Then let’s begin.”

* * *

They’re curled up on a bunk that’s barely big enough for one person, but Ben doesn’t mind. It’s comfortable to lie like this, with Rey spooning him. He can feel how concerned she is for him as clearly as he can feel the heat from all the points where their bodies are touching.

Normally, he’d be trying to find a casual way to suggest they do something more than spoon, but the painful thirst that he’s feeling is too distracting. It’s wrapped in a hollow hunger, and it feels like no matter how much water he drinks, it won’t go away.

He can smell Rey, too, although maybe that’s just because he’s so focused on her right now. She smells of engine oil and heat, and there’s a hint of something wild that he can’t quite put his finger on. He knows she’s anxious about the transformation, but if he’s being honest, he’d happily snuggle with wolf Rey right now.

He’s happy snuggling with any form of Rey, really.

She shifts, pressing closer to him as she wraps her arm around his waist. He can feel her burning up, but he doesn’t think that has anything to do with how cold he is right now.

“I’m worried about you,” she admits. The words are slightly muffled, probably because she’s pressing her face into the space between his shoulder blades in an effort to move even closer to him.

It’s unclear if she means she’s worried about her potential transformation or about his mysterious illness. Either way, he’s torn between appreciating how much she cares about him and wanting to reassure her that he’ll be okay. He wraps his hand around hers, pulling her closer. “I’ll be fine,” he says.

“What if you transform, too?”

“Then you can show me the ways of the werewolf.”

“Ben. I’m serious.”

“So am I.” To tell the truth, he wouldn’t mind experiencing the primal joy that Rey gets when she’s in wolf form. Maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult for her if they experienced it together.

Maybe then they’d finally crack the tension between them that’s been stewing since the day they sold themselves for power.

A thought occurs to him. “What if this is my price?” he whispers.

“What, you think you’re going to transform into some cold-blooded creature now that we’re in space?” She’s aiming for levity, but he can hear a slight tremor in her tone.

“Maybe.”

“I hope not,” she says. “Now hush. You should sleep.”

How can he, when she’s clutching him like this? He knows she’s been holding back ever since her transformations began, but now that they might have found a solution, he doesn’t want to wait any longer.

It’s so comfortable like this, however, and Ben finds himself sinking further and further into Rey’s embrace as sleep claims him.

* * *

In truth, Kylo has no idea what the price of the power he and Rey are summoning will be, but it’s not like he has anything left to lose.

(That’s a lie. He’s terrified of losing the woman whose hands are in his, holding on like their lives depend on it. But now is not the time to think about that.)

The Force, when it swells between them, speaks in a voice that feels like oil oozing through his brain. _Are you willing to pay the price for power?_ it asks. _Nothing comes for free. You should know this, Darksider._

Kylo locks eyes with Rey. They’re standing over a circle of symbols drawn on the floor of the ruins of a Massassi temple on Yavin IV. They’re facing each other, holding their hands together while they draw on their combined power to perform this obscure and highly dangerous Force ritual. The resolve he sees in her eyes gives him strength, and the two of them think the words in unison:

_Yes. We are willing. We will pay the price._

* * *

Eventually, they do sleep, and when they wake up, Rey is still human, confirming their suspicions that her transformation is linked to the moon. It’s less of a comfort than it probably should be, especially since Ben is still sick. If anything, he’s even worse today, rendering Rey too worried about him to be relieved about the fact that she didn’t transform last night.

He’s hunched over the dejarik table while Rey is fiddling with a faulty control panel. There’s something jammed in there, and she cuts her finger open on a jagged piece of metal in her efforts to pry it out.

The effect it has on Ben is astonishing. One minute, Rey’s cursing at the blood beading up and the next, he has her pinned against the wall as he licks her skin. The sensation of his mouth sucking the blood off of her finger makes her toes curl, but then his teeth scrape against the pad of her fingertip and she wonders if teeth are _supposed_ to be that sharp.

He’s still cold, but she’s pretty sure she’s warm enough for both of them. Stars, why hasn’t she found an excuse to get him to pin her against a wall like this before? It’s a perfect position for her to reach up and kiss him.

As soon as he stops sucking her blood, that is.

Rey’s been transfixed by the sight of her finger in his mouth. When she finally manages to look into his eyes, they’re eerily dilated, the pupil leaving just a bare sliver of brown iris. “Ben,” she whispers.

Hearing his name breaks whatever spell he’s under. He stumbles backwards, a horrified expression on his face. “Rey, I don’t know what—” He doesn’t even manage to finish the thought before he’s running for the fresher while Rey starts to put the pieces together. _Oh,_ she realizes. Then: _I think I understand now._

* * *

Rey has done a number of terrifying things in her life, but nothing comes close to the experience of traveling to Exegol to take down Palpatine with Ben—and he _is_ Ben again; Kylo Ren died during the process that bound their souls together even more tightly than before.

As they fight the Sith guards keeping Palpatine alive, things click into place between her and Ben. It’s not unlike their fight on the _Supremacy_ a year ago, when they took down the entire Praetorian guard together.

They’re stronger now than they were then. Rey is moving faster than she ever has before, and she doesn’t think adrenaline can entirely account for how powerful she is right now. She doesn’t even have to look at Ben to know that he feels the same way. When she’s singed by a blast fired in her direction, the wound heals within moments of forming, although Rey is in no state to notice this right now.

The two of them move as one, like they were born for this. And when they deliver the final blow together, the Sith spectres filling Exegol fade like wind blowing through a pile of dust.

Rey and Ben barely have a moment to take all of this in. As soon as they feel Palpatine finally disappear in the Force, they turn to each other. “Through victory, my chains are broken,” Ben says, echoing the words from the Force ritual they invoked to grant them this power.

“The Force shall free me,” she replies, completing the chant.

* * *

Hours later, they’re landing back on Wasat. Ben keeps insisting that they should stay offworld until the full moon is done, but Rey is having none of it. She’s up to something, but she won’t give any clue as to what’s on her mind. Ben could probably try harder to get an answer out of her, but he’s still reeling over the inexplicable urge he’d had to drink Rey’s blood earlier.

He’s done some dark things in his past, but he’s never felt compelled to drink blood. The strangest part is, he thinks she would have let him continue to drink her if he hadn’t gotten so sick afterwards. There’s something about her blood that feels _wrong_ , although that’s not saying much, seeing as he was the one _drinking human blood_.

(Is Rey even human anymore? He’s afraid to know the answer to that one.)

“The moon,” he says in a half-heartest protest as she pulls him off of the ship and onto the porch. It’s almost sunset. Why isn’t she more concerned about this? Just yesterday she was worried about hurting him while in wolf form.

“Trust me,” she says. It’s starting to become a familiar refrain. Trust has never come easy for either of them, but she sounds so sure of herself that he doesn’t even question her.

She sits him down on the step, then parks herself next to him. At this point, Ben’s thirst is so painful that he’s hunched over with his arms wrapped around himself as if that’s going to help. There’s a scent in the air that was missing on the artificial environment on the ship. He can’t place it; whatever it is, it’s making him salivate.

He sneaks a peek over at Rey to find her watching him, an inscrutable smile on her face. “What is it?” he asks, voice raspy.

She pauses before answering. “There was a legend I’d sometimes hear offworlders talking about on Jakku.”

“The Force?”

“No, not the Force. Or—well, I don’t think the stories were about the Force, anyway. No lifting rocks and laser swords in this one,” she says. “Just a creature and its curse.”

“A curse,” he repeats.

The sun is on the horizon now, barely peeking through the trees. Rey stands up and starts to undress, disregarding the fact that Ben is watching her. He may feel out-of-focus, but he’s certainly paying attention to her now.

Rey peeks back at him before pulling the last of her clothing off. He doesn’t think she’s intentionally trying to seduce him, but she certainly doesn’t seem to mind him looking. And oh, is he _looking_. “Trust me,” she says again, drawing his gaze back up to her face. “I know—” She doesn’t finish the sentence before the sun sets and the curse takes hold, and whatever she wants to say is swallowed by the scream she makes as the transformation starts.

Unlike the first time he watched her transform, this seems to go smoothly. Or, as smoothly as it could go, anyway. Rey’s bones crack and snap as they rearrange themselves into another form, but it seems more natural this time. Like she’s no longer fighting it.

As soon as she’s done stumbling out into the garden in wolf form, she shoots off into the woods. Ben reaches out in the Force as he always does, but this time, he finds a sense of certainty that he’s never felt from her before.

Rey is in control of the wolf now, and she has a plan.

The thirst tearing at Ben’s throat is so distracting that he loses focus for a while. He can see that time has passed because the angle of the moon in the sky has changed. The thing pulling his attention back to the present moment is the rustling of leaves as Rey runs out of the forest, carrying something that smells delectable to Ben’s unfocused mind.

He’s on his feet and leaping for her before he realizes what he’s doing. It’s not until he’s sinking his fangs into the neck of the poor creature Rey brought him that he realizes what he’s doing, and then it’s too late to stop.

When the initial bloodlust fades as Ben’s system adjusts to its new diet, Rey is still near him. He’s crouched in the dirt, hovering over the corpse of some small creature—a rabbit, maybe? 

Rey is pacing in circles around him. He’s horrified by what she’s just witnessed, but the only thing he senses from her is concern for him. “What—” he chokes out, forgetting that she can’t answer him in this form.

Sensing his panic, she stops her pacing and trots up to him. Despite the darkness of the woods around them, he can see her perfectly in the moonlight. He’s never taken a close look at her wolf form before, and he’s suddenly filled with appreciation for the fact that her desire to keep him safe is strong enough to override her wolf brain. She’s bigger than the wolves he’s seen in holos, with sandy fur covering her from head to toe. He can’t see her teeth, but he’s willing to bet they’re sharp as knives.

Rey nudges him with her snout, then lets out a quiet woof. It’s remarkably un-wolf-like, further proof that she’s in control of her animal instincts. “Thank you,” he says, reaching out to pet the top of her head. Her fur is softer than he’d expected, and she shivers when he scratches behind her ears.

He’s still not feeling completely sated, but it’s only another minute or so before Rey pulls away to scamper back into the woods.

Ben sinks back into a seated position on the ground and waits for her to return, listening for the occasional howl from deep in the woods.

* * *

Rey probably shouldn’t be so surprised at how hungry Ben is, but she’s happy to take care of him like this. Having external motivation gives her enough purpose to keep her in control of her wolf instincts, and she’s too relieved about figuring out why he’s been so sick to care that she’s bringing him dead animals to eat.

 _Vampire._ That’s the name from the legends she’d heard as a child. A creature uncommonly strong for its species that survives on the blood of others. According to the stories, they rarely venture offworld because spending time in space makes the bloodlust exponentially worse, which is probably why it only became obvious when they left Wasat.

Dawn is not long off when she brings him her third kill of the evening. By the time he’s finished, his face, neck, and hands are covered in blood. She’s seen him in all sorts of gruesome contexts, but this is a new level of brutality, even for him.

The sun rises as she’s considering this turn of events, and things fade into a haze of pain as her body transforms into its usual shape. When she comes to, Ben is leaning over her, eyes wide.

“You’re covered in blood,” he says. The words sound a bit funny; it must be the fangs she can see peeking out from between his lips.

Somehow, it doesn’t make her want to kiss him any less.

“So are you,” she replies. “Are you feeling better?”

“You hunted for me.”

“You needed it.”

She’s not sure which of them leans in first. If she wasn’t so desperate for this moment to finally happen, she’d laugh at the way his lips barely meet hers before he gets distracted by the blood smeared on her lips.

And, okay, maybe it _is_ a little funny, because he realizes what he’s doing a moment later when his tongue is dragging over her lips in his fervor to not waste a single drop of blood. “Shit,” he says, pulling away. “Sorry, I just completely ruined that moment, didn’t I?”

“It’s okay,” Rey says, placing her hands on his blood-covered cheeks. “We have all the time in the world to make moments together now.”

* * *

Ben is still embarrassed by the fact that his newfound, uh, _condition_ ruined their first kiss. Rey seems amused by it; she keeps turning back to grin at him as she takes his hand and leads them back to their cottage. She’s still naked, a fact that has him warring between his desire to explore every inch of her body and his need to lick the remains of dried animal blood off of her neck. He’s struggling to maintain his conscious, human mind as his body finally starts to digest the blood he’s had.

Is this how it feels when she becomes a wolf?

He can’t take it anymore as they reach their cottage. He backs her against the door, fully intending to kiss her again. The bloodlust is too strong to resist, however, and he ends up licking her neck instead. It’s not what he really wants to be doing to her, but he can’t deny how much he loves the effect it has on Rey.

“Ben,” she moans, digging her hands into his hips. “Stars, that feels good.”

That gives him pause. “Rey,” he says, nearly tripping over the words as he tries not to cut his lips open on his new fangs. “I am licking animal blood off of your neck. You were a wolf five minutes ago. And you’re okay with this?”

She laughs again. “Maybe we should clean up, huh?”

Despite the strangeness of their situation, Ben feels a lightness that he hasn’t felt in a very long time.

It’s much easier to focus on Rey once they get into the shower together and start washing the blood off of themselves. Ben’s fangs recede; it’s a relief to know that he’s not going to have to worry about accidentally biting Rey.

She, on the other hand, seems to be less concerned about biting than he is. Would she be giving him so many playful nips if she wasn’t half-wild, he wonders?

It doesn’t take long before they abandon all pretense of washing in favor of fooling around. Ben doesn’t even notice the water getting cold, although it’s equally likely that’s because of his curse as it is that he’s just so focused on Rey right now. She’s leaning against the shower wall, one leg slung over Ben’s shoulder as he kneels in front of her, eating her out as if she’s the only thing he ever needs to consume again.

They’re so deeply connected that he can practically feel how much she likes this. If his hands weren’t so busy trying to steady her, he’d be working himself as he works her. He’s thought about having her a million times, but none of his fantasies even come close to the real thing.

Stars, the _sounds_ that she’s making. She’s so close to coming that she’s practically fucking his face, and he _loves_ it.

When she finally does come, it’s with a long, drawn-out scream that is nearly enough to make _him_ come. He feels like he could keep doing this for days, but as soon as the aftershocks fade for Rey she starts shivering. “C-can we continue this on a b-bed?” she asks, teeth chattering.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Ben quips.

She nips his ear in response.

They end up in Ben’s bed simply because it’s closer. Rey actually _pounces_ , knocking him down on his back. She’s quick to apologize, but he reassures her that she has nothing to apologize for. It’s hot knowing how badly she wants him.

Once she’s been reassured that he has no problem with her complete lack of chill, she doesn’t hesitate to straddle his hips and slowly sink down onto him.

Ben has never done this before, and it’s clear that Rey hasn’t either. It takes a bit of fumbling until they find a rhythm that satisfies both of them, but once Ben lets her take the lead, things fall together.

He’s half tempted to just lie back and watch her as she fucks him with her hands balanced on his chest for leverage, but he’s too overcome by the need to kiss her to continue like this. He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls himself up to a sitting position. The action startles a laugh out of her, but then he kisses her and he finds he loves the way he can feel her smile into the kiss.

After that, it’s not much longer until they’re both on the brink of coming. Ben has just enough brainpower to ask Rey what more she needs, then he reaches between their bodies to give her the extra stimulation she needs to come. That, in turn, is the extra stimulation _he_ needs to come.

She ends up slumped against him, breathing hard. “Wow,” she whispers. “We should do a _lot_ more of that.”

* * *

Rey wonders if she should feel upset by the fact that Ben is planetbound without a way around the difficulty of dealing with bloodlust in space, but she just...doesn’t.

She loves the life they’ve built, here in this nearly-forgotten corner of the galaxy. They aren’t completely alone on this planet, but its busiest spaceport is half a world away and even that doesn’t get much traffic.

They’re free in a way neither of them has ever been before.

They test the limits of their newfound abilities. In time, they come to learn that it’s not as much of a curse as it originally felt. Rey loves the thrill of running through the woods at night, hunting for small woodland creatures to bring Ben. He’s capable of finding his own food, but she loves taking care of him like this, and she loves that he lets her. Eventually, he starts joining her, his vampire strength giving him the endurance he needs to keep up with a werewolf.

It’s not at all where either of them thought their paths would lead after the war, but in the end, they wouldn’t trade their hard-earned freedom for anything else in the galaxy.

**Author's Note:**

> Additional tags: vampires, werewolves, some gore. For smut purposes, assume they're on birth control and they both know they are. (Yes, hormonal birth control for AMAB and AFAB people exist in my AU!)
> 
> Prompt(s): "'Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.' The First Order defeated, Ben and Rey take some time to themselves. Neither of them knows much about freedom, but they figure it out together." + "I absolutely love myth fic/creature fic; wolves, vamps, fae, etc" with a dash of "Another thing I love is the idea of a morally ambiguous Force."
> 
> Thank you, redbelles, for giving me the excuse to write the canonverse vampire/werewolf romance I didn't know I wanted to write.
> 
> And once again, thank you to the RFFA mods for all of the work they did to organize this exchange!
> 
> EDIT, now that anon is off: thank you as well to starcrossreylo for the beta help. I am radioactivesaltghoul on [tumblr](https://radioactivesaltghoul.tumblr.com/) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/radioactivesaltghoul) and r_saltghoul on [twitter](https://twitter.com/r_saltghoul).


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